


Becoming Kylo Ren

by RissWrites



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Baby Ben Solo, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Chandrila, Gen, Hanna City, Kylo Ren Backstory, Kylo Ren Childhood, Might Contain Reylo Someday, Minor Original Character(s), POV Ben Solo, Padawan Ben Solo, Parents Han and Leia, Senator Leia Organa, Young Ben Solo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-27 20:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15692694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RissWrites/pseuds/RissWrites
Summary: The story of Ben Solo's childhood days up to and through his joining the Dark Side, based off of a few small canonical bits but mostly rumors & theories (the ones that seem most plausible).





	1. The Force

**Author's Note:**

> Just a bit of info~  
> >>I’m sure that others have done similar stories to this, but I have never looked for nor read any of them as I don’t want to be influenced; I want to write down my personal headcanon as it is right now.  
> >>While I plan on this story mostly being chronological, I am starting it off when he's 6, nearing 7.  
> >>Since he was born on Chandrila, I'm assuming that Han and Leia lived there (couldn't find anything else on this).  
> I'm thinking that each part will probably be pretty short, but I'll try to post often!

_Becoming Kylo Ren_

Part 1  
_Towards the End of 11 ABY_  
A shout echoed down the corridor, hitting the door that young Ben Solo crouched behind. It was followed by a nearly inaudible scolding - his mother telling his father not to shout, no doubt. She thought that Ben was asleep, but sleep had been impossible for him, even before he had heard the arguing begin. 

Ben shifted so that his back was to the door, listening to the stage whispering voices but not quite able to make out what they were saying. Hand resting on one of his knees, he lifted only his fingers while focusing on a gold colored credit that lay on his desk. That motion alone was enough to lift it into the air, and it thrilled him to the point that he almost dropped it. 

Lurching forwards, both hands outstretched towards the coin, he instinctively managed to freeze it before it clattered back onto the desk. He paused, still holding it in place. This was new.

He slowly pulled it towards him, which in some ways was more difficult than tugging it quickly as he not only had to move it horizontally but now also support it vertically against gravity. Even once the credit reached him he left it afloat, moving it with the Force, feeling the different pulls of physics on the object.

What Ben was doing felt natural and right. It calmed him, and the voices beyond the door were all but forgotten. He used his thumb to flip it spinning towards the ceiling, then used the Force to keep it twirling there. 

His mother had always told him that the Force was with him. While she was not especially strong with it, perhaps she had still been able to sense it within him. Ben, unable to feel it at the time, hadn’t believed her. He had wished to have it, but had figured that he simply did not. And he had decided that that might be for the best, since his father seemed to scoff at the idea of it on occasion. 

But earlier that evening it had suddenly awoken. The shouts, rising in volume once again, reminded him of that. Now, gently guiding the credit back to its place on his desk, he knew that the Force truly had always been with him and wondered how he had ever overlooked its presence. Even when he wasn’t using it, Ben felt it flowing both through and around him and, if he focused a little more, everything else in his room as well.

Ben stood and stretched, tired but still running on excitement that couldn’t be dampened even by his parents’ ongoing fight. From the bit that he had been able to understand, it seemed to be stemming from the fact that his father was apparently unhappy that Ben had control of the Force. Even though Leia knew Han and his personality even more than Ben did, she was the one who seemed to be taking more offense, adamantly repeating that the Force chose Ben and not vice versa. Meanwhile, Ben somehow felt that this was simply his father’s way of looking out for him.

Crawling into bed, Ben was unable to hear the voices anymore. It wasn’t until he was successfully calming down and drifting off that he suddenly remembered something and jolted up.

In all of the evening’s excitement, he had forgotten about the dream that he had had a couple of nights prior. He couldn’t remember it even the next morning, but had decided that it was not a good dream - despite also feeling certain that nothing bad had happened in it. It hadn’t felt much different from his usual dreams: strange, confusing, and always forgotten by morning. Yet the phantom memory made him not want to go to sleep anymore, for something told him it was eventually going to return.

Feeling that the Force was still all around him, Ben laid back down, heartbeat calming again. At this moment, the Force felt like an ally to him; he decided that even if the nightmare dream was to appear again tonight, he was well prepared.


	2. Han

Part 2  
_The Next Morning_  
Ben carefully managed to hoist himself up onto the tall kitchen chair using only one hand; he held a Jogan fruit in the other. At the left end of the smooth countertop in front of him was Han, who ignored the chairs and instead stood while deftly counting credits. Neither spoke.

Ben knew that his mother had risen early to attend some senatorial matters. Part of him wondered if that meant she’d be back in the afternoon, maybe for dinner. Though she was commonly away for most of the day, she was still normally there for breakfast. When Ben had gotten up, he noticed that no breakfast had been laid out - hence the Jogan fruit that he now bit into.

Normally, Leia was the one to activate their kitchen droid, BX-778, each morning. The droid, often called simply Beex, prepared the majority of their meals. This morning, however, his mother clearly had forgotten in her hurry to leave. Han, who wasn’t big on long, drawn-out meals, also had ignored the droid and had probably scoffed something down before Ben had even woken up.

Finishing the fruit, Ben knew that he could have personally asked Beex for anything he wanted; however, he wasn’t especially hungry. Besides, he tended to steer clear of the droid. He didn’t remember much about the attack on his life that had apparently happened when he was two, but seeing how his parents now kept it completely disabled whenever it wasn’t needed made him wary.

Han swept the credits off of the table with one hand, catching them in the other before stashing them away somewhere out of sight. He, too, was probably going to head out soon. This thought made Ben notice something. Looking around, he didn’t see T-2LC - Elsie, as they called the protocol nanny droid. 

“Wanna come with me to Hanna City today?” Han asked without looking up, as if reading his son’s mind.

Ben was thrilled at the prospect, and not just because it meant he could escape the tense air that still hung in the house. While he did go places with his parents on occasion - well, one or the other, he couldn’t remember the last time they all went together - it was normally with his mother. Leia never seemed comfortable the very few times that Han had taken Ben out.

“Sure,” he said, trying to casually imitate his father’s nonchalant attitude about literally everything, “But why do you need to go to Hanna City?”

Hanna City, the capital of Chandrila, Ben’s home world, was more a place for the likes of his mother than his father. She was probably there now, and had brought Ben there more often than anywhere else - but that didn’t dampen Ben’s excitement, as he strongly felt that adventure tended to follow his father. He was certain that _something_ was bound to happen if he went today.

“You’ll see,” was all that Han offered in response, glancing straight faced at Ben before turning and heading out the door to prepare the Millenium Falcon.

But behind that glance Ben could see what most others could not: a hidden wink, a certain shine that promised the adventure that Ben had been longing for.


	3. The Falcon

Part 3  
The Falcon always impressed Ben, no matter how many times he saw it - which was quite common - or was on it, which was quite rare. He knew that the ship was like a second home to his father, which made him respect it. Ben also was aware that certain others - his mother sometimes included - looked upon it with disapproval and thought that it wasn’t much more than scrap metal.

Running his hand along the wall of a corridor, feeling the exposed pipes and cables, Ben felt strong awe for the ship that had carried his father from one impossible story to the next. It was made even stronger now that he could sense all of the components and the way that they fit together through the Force. The feeling of each part working - not always smoothly, but still working - to transport them amazed him. To Ben, the Falcon’s battered and sometimes haphazard appearance was far better than that of any of the sleek, newer ships. It told even more stories than Han did, and lent them credibility. 

Up ahead he could hear his father grumbling about where to land and Chewie, his ever faithful copilot, respond. Ben had not yet mastered Wookie tongue, but it made him smile to hear Chewie sound both amused and exasperated with Han’s typical Han behavior.

The Falcon lurched suddenly, throwing Ben down to his hands and knees. Han grunted something that was almost definitely a swear while Chewie turned from his task of switch flipping to make sure that Ben was alright.

“We’re here,” Han said simply while still focused on the dashboard’s many controls. 

Ben got up and rushed over to the area in between the pilot and copilot seats, being careful not to hit anything. Chewie, satisfied that Ben was alright, returned to the task of landing. Outside the window, rushing up to meet them, was Hanna City.

\------

Ben was the first one out of the Falcon. His feet were on the ground before the ramp was. If Han noticed, he didn’t care. 

The docking bays bustled with people, but Ben knew that there’d be far more further within the city. He could already see tall, oddly shaped skyscrapers bridging the ground to the pale blue sky. 

“Chewie, come with us,” Han said as he exited. 

Chewie, who had been prepared to stay and guard the Falcon, voiced a question.

“Because we’re more likely to need your help where we’re going,” Han replied. “C’mon, kiddo, let’s get moving,” he added, lightly clapping Ben on the shoulder before striding on ahead.

Ben smiled. His father normally just called him Ben, sometimes kid in a more sarcastic, slightly playful manner. ‘Kiddo’ was rare, and Ben still hadn’t figured out a pattern with it. But it made him feel closer to Han, if only by a little bit.

Ben walked with Chewie a short ways behind Han, who was moving from one side of the walkway to the other, occasionally bumping into people, searching for a specific location. Ben was glad not only that Chewie joined them, but that the Wookie had his Bowcaster strapped to his back. 

Ben still didn’t know where they were going or what they were doing in Hanna City, but he decided to pretend that the secrecy meant danger - something that he hadn’t experienced at an age where he could remember it, something that sounded grand in his head but he didn’t know the consequences of. In his mind, getting to their destination would only be a small piece of their adventure, so it was a good thing that Han had his blaster and Chewie his Bowcaster. Ben, of course, didn’t carry a weapon; the Force was all he needed. He didn’t know what he’d _do_ with it in the event of a fight, but part of him also knew that they weren’t truly in danger and that he needn’t worry about the details of his fantasies.


	4. Hanna City

Part 4  
 **Han’s POV**

Unsure what, exactly, he was looking for, Han walked ahead of Ben and Chewie. He wanted to find it without slowing them all down while he searched, and he trusted Chewie not to lose Ben in the crowd.

There were a lot more people around them now, and as Han waited at an intersection for the others to catch up, he could only partially contain a half smile at the sight of Ben clutching Chewie’s arm as the Wookie tried to clear a path for them, roaring in annoyance at all the people passing by.

To their left was the Eleutherian Plaza, at the far side of which a tall, gleaming building stood out.

“The Senate Building,” said Ben, seeing it, having been there once or twice before. “I wonder if mom is there.”

Han momentarily imagined what Leia would think of this outing that Ben was on, then decided not to. There was no way she’d be pleased, neither with his unannounced trip nor the goal of it. As the trio turned away from the Eleutherian Plaza, Han glanced down at Ben.

The boy was still hanging onto Chewie’s arm - who didn’t seem to mind - while gazing contentedly at the cityscape surrounding him. 

Han wondered if his son was, in some way unseen to him, using the Force. Wondered how often Ben had used it since it had awoken within him yesterday. Han found it surprising that he hadn’t once seen Ben purposefully attempt to use it in a visible manner. Han didn’t know much about the Force, but he knew Ben and what it was like to be a boy his age - there was no chance that the ability was being completely ignored. Ben must be using it under the surface, Han decided. Part of him did marvel at the idea of Ben already controlling his abilities so well. Another part, one that Han had been ignoring all morning, felt guilty for not bringing the subject up.   
But he hadn’t been able to find the words. Besides, he knew that Ben had probably heard the argument between his parents over his Force abilities. Somehow, Han could tell that Ben always heard, although the boy never said anything.

“This way,” he motioned for Ben and Chewie to cross the road, shaking his head slightly as if to clear it. He would make things right, with a bit of time and maybe some luck.

This area of Hanna City was far less populated, and the figures that Han did see did not appear to be the most friendly of types. The buildings shone less and appeared to be more decrepit than most of the city; a couple had partially collapsed. 

Seeing Ben beside him, absorbing it all in - wanting to remember it, unsure when he’d next be back - made Han’s hand instinctively move a bit closer to his blaster’s handle. Han knew that this subsection of the capital was not a real threat to them, but the unfriendliness that seemed to linger in the air still got to him. He had been to worse places, of course; places that made this one feel like the most hospitable place in the galaxy. If it were only Chewie and him here, he wouldn’t be half as tense as he currently was. Ben made him see things with a new perspective.

Then finally, in front of them, stood a squat but well fortified building. It was smaller than Han had imagined, but his sources had assured him that he’s find what he was looking for there.


End file.
